Vegas Trip Report (very very long)

[Kevin]

The National Meeting was in LV again this year. Last year it was at the MGM, this year it was at Green Valley Ranch, off strip. I was planning on staying through Monday with a friend of mine, so the majority of my card playing would be done after the meeting was over.

We got in about noon on Valentine’s Day. After getting checked in and having some lunch, I was planning on catching the 2pm shuttle from GVR to Mandalay Bay. We didn’t have any mandatory meetings until 8am on Tuesday and the last shuttle back was at 10p, so it would give me a few hours for some live action on Monday. Unfortunately, the 2pm shuttle was filled (first come, first served) so I had to wait until the 5:30 shuttle. I got to Mandalay Bay about 6 and since I had to be back by 10, I decided to just play that funky half blind structure game there. When I was there last year, they spread 4/8, 6/12 and even a 10/20 game. Now, they only have a 4/8 game that they struggle to keep full while all of the other tables were 1/2 no limit.

Since I play 98% on line, it was so nice to see a live game with seven and eight way action. The cards agreed with me. I pumped some draws and they came in. I got quad 10’s and won $101 in the high hand progressive prize that they pay. It had just been hit the day before, so it had been reset. I had raised out of the big blind with 6 way action, flopped the quads, got one caller on the flop and she folded on the turn. I was getting ready to throw them into the muck when I remembered the high hand prize. She had started to muck the board when I turned them over. She called the floor over, he had her count the deck. There were 50 cards and they gave me my $101. All told it was a little over three hours and I won $245 including the 1010 money.

I had brought my laptop to play online in the hotel on Tuesday and Wednesday evening. I didn’t want to pay the $10.99 per night for high speed access and was having a good time with everyone anyway, so I didn’t get any online hands in this week. It will probably kill my February rakeback as it is a short month anyway and my 25-30,000 hands will probably end up looking more like 18-22,000 this month.

Ben Roethlisberger was at GVR playing craps. Our office is based in Pittsburgh and half of the sales force is out of PGH (me included), so it was pretty cool (I am originally from Indy, so I am indifferent to the Steelers, but they all thought it was pretty cool). He had his platinum necklace on with the diamonds and was wearing lots of jewelry. The guy that we work with that taught him how to play craps said he was betting more like a 22 year old kid versus a guy who just signed a 14 million signing bonus and cleared an extra 2 million in incentive bonuses this year.

Thursday, we did a team building even at the Vegas Boys and Girls club. Apparently, they had a fire recently and our 400+ people spent the day painting the gym inside and out as well as doing some landscaping and carpeting. It was a lot of work and not exactly my idea of a great time, but after it was done, it felt pretty good and the folks from the club were very appreciative.

The meeting was over on Thursday and it was time for the card playing to begin. I caught the shuttle and went to Bellagio. I got into the 8/16 game pretty quickly. I bought in for a rack of red, and the first hand I saw out of the big blind was a 15 out draw with 5 way action. I pumped it, it didn’t come in and I was down 4 or 5 big bets before I got my chips out of the rack. I played from about 7 to 7 the game broke twice. Once I had to go to 4/8 for about 30 minutes while I waited for a seat to open up in the other 8/16 game. Nothing memorable about the night, I was cold decked pretty good. I was down as much as 450, got back to even about 5am (was actually up $3, the only time of the night), but the game was still good. I then proceeded to drop about $250. I had to check out of GVR by 10, and I was getting tired and didn’t want to play like I was stuck. Clubs were looking like spades. The game was very very good. There was a lot of cold calling with 5-6 way action. I just didn’t have any starters that let me come along and try to pull one of those huge pots. I think I ended up down $256 – so I was now down $9 playing poker for the week.

We checked out of GVR and went to Bally’s to check in. They now have a small poker room. It is pretty friendly. They don’t require people to post the blind – if you sit behind the button, you get 7 hands for free before you actually have to post. 4/8 was the “biggest game” in the room. It was very, very soft. The guy that I was sharing a room with had dropped about 3 grand for the week in blackjack and swore off the game for the rest of the week. He wanted to give poker a try. I gave him the 20 minute lesson, he thought that my advice was ludicrous, so he played his any 2 broadway, any ace, any suited, any connector and then complained about not getting any flops as he dropped a couple hundred. The deck made up for the previous night at Bellagio and I had run up to about $300 in the first two hours. I then gave half of that back before calling it a session.

I went back to Bellagio for another shot at the 8/16. The room was crowded, there was a tourney going on. My wait was over 2 hours and I spent the last hour as the next up in the game but nobody left. I finally sat down at about 11 and after waiting for that long, the game kept getting short with no list. It was a bad game with a lot of chops and heads up action. I was up a couple hundred and then got ace king suited in the big blind. It was raised from MP by a pretty reasonable guy, folded to me, I three bet, he called. Flop is ace 5 7 with two of my suit. I bet he called. Turn was an 8. I bet, he raised. I three bet. He called. River was a 6. I bet, he raised, he had 99. I will have to post the hand in the small stakes forum to see if the three bet was a bad play or not. I know that the board was getting coordinated. I didn’t want to miss a value bet on a worse ace on the end and ended up paying it off. So that had could have really helped to make the night, instead, I was up $56. The game then went to 4 handed. None of the other two games had an open seat. It was about 3am. I went and cashed out. I was really bummed because it was Friday night and I could pull an all-nighter. There was open seating in the 15, but I just wasn’t confident enough that I could play in that game. I brought 3 grand with me and didn’t want to have -25 bb session finding out.

Versus going to bed, I checked out the 4/8 at Bally’s on my way in. It was a nice fun loose game with a couple of drunks raising it up. I won a pot that was capped 5 way before the flop, so it put me up just under $200. The game broke, I sat in the 3/6 and lost about $100 in that game. I am such a fish.

We did the monster breakfast buffet at Paris – it rocked. We went back up and slept until about 3 or so. We checked out the shops at Ceaser’s and had dinner at Joe’s Stone Crab. It was pretty good.

I went over to the Mirage and waitlisted for the 10/20. I really like that room. It has a different feel than the Bellagio and the people seem much more friendly. After about a 15 minute wait, I was seated. I think I won 3 hands in my first round, an was up about $300 right away. The deck was hitting me pretty good, the game was good, loose, passive and friendly. I was up as much as 700 and when the game broke about 3:30, I was up just under $500. They put us in another game that was breaking. I got 76s in the big blind . It was raised preflop in middle position after a previous limper and 2 cold callers. Flop came 7 6 9 rainbow. I bet out, the pf raiser and one other called. Turn was an ace – just the card that I was hoping for. I checked, he bet, I checkraised, he 3 bet (uh, oh), I called (?) river was insignificant. I checked he bet, I called. He had 99. I suck. I thought the ace made him, he was waiting to spike me, drawing dead and putting in $90 after I was drawing dead. Do I muck this hand to the 3 bet? Later, I had a KJs in a J1010 (of my suit) flop, early bet, I called (raise every time here?). Turn was the Q of my suit. He bet, I raised, he 3 bet (ugh). This hand would have been so much easier to play if I had just raised to the flop. River was insignificant. He had K10o. He had the same straight redraw as me. I don’t think I could have played the hand much worse. I apologize if anyone feels any dumber for having read about that hand but I had to put the bad in with the good.

So, I pissed away a lot of the earlier winnings. I did get 66 on a 6Kx flop, K turn and got to go to 4 bets on 4th against AK. Later I got 77 on a 7Kx flop, K turn and had two different folks with a king in huge pot. Thank goodness they didn’t catch on the end either time. The game was very loose and passive with players who would cold call anything to see a flop. It made for some tough beats, but all of the pots were monsters. 6 way action in an unraised pot, I had 93s in the big blind with a 10 9 3 pot. I play it fast, turn is Q of my suit, so I have the bottom two and 4 flush. River is a J not of my suit. K8o takes it down. Sigh. A couple of huge nut draws didn’t get there and the one that did put the 3rd spade on the board with the 3rd 6 and I was dead to a full.

I finally left about 9 am up $199 and disappointed at what might have been the change of a couple of cards and the two hands above that I spewed chips away.

I slept until about 3, watched the end of the Daytona 500 and my buddy wanted to give the 4/8 game at Bally’s another shot. I proceed to get KK, QQ, JJ, and 1010 cracked, miss on 3 flushes and 2 straights, blah, blah, blah. I am down $93 for the game in a little over 4 hours. It is about 9, so I bail to go back to Mirage to sit in the 10/20. I wait about an hour and sit in a game that immediately starts breaking up. One of the guys has a shirt that says “Card Shark” and dark sunglasses. He has a special card protector and is offering advice to the table. Of course he sees about 70% of the hands and coldcalls a ton.

It was an okay game, but got progressively better throughout the night. One lady sitting to my left had ran up to about $1600 in chips. She was playing any two, tipping the dealer $20 when her 82o brought 3 more 8’s on the board and cracked aces (not mine). I had made it my goal to stay patient and just hope they would flow my way. She was to my left, which pretty much sucked, but I would press on. I almost asked for a seat change when the seat to her left opened but I didn’t want to look too obvious. I was up a couple hundred and got 98s in late position. The asian lady to my left raised it, it was 6 way action and I was closing. Flop was 9 high with 2 spades. Checked to me, I bet, 2 callers, turn the 9 clubs giving me trips and putting 2 clubs on the board. River was a little club. Checked to me, I bet, the guy who was just sitting down after a table transfer check raises, I pay him off and he shows KQc. He called a big pot on the flop with overs and a backdoor draw, picked up his club draw on 4th and got there. No problems with any of that. It seemed that It would be pretty weak to check behind with trips, but I hate when this happens – not only for the CR, but it makes me likely to miss future value bets when the flush doesn’t get there.

After a cold run and going back to break even on the initial buy-in, I started to get the deck to cooperate. A big pot with the nut flush where I got to check raise the flop on 7 way action out of the big blind and everyone came along. The flush got there on 4th. A 4 flush got there on 5th and I got 3 callers on the river. a set of deuces held up against on a scary board with 2 hearts and straight draw out there. I kept pushing it and even got to raise the turn and got one caller on the end. Aces held, QQ held in a big pot. The lady that was up to $1600 racked up about 6 am with $350 in chips left.

I finally got up about 7 am up $991 for the night. We were leaving for the airport at 9am and I needed to shower and pack (and take another round of the breakfast buffet at Paris).

I met some really fun guys at the table. I played probably 20 hours with a guy named Eli. He came to Vegas, was dealing, started winning at poker and playing full time in the 10/20. He was getting cold decked pretty hard. I was bummed for him on Sunday night because I saw him drop about 35bbs. All of the draw hands that were coming in for me and big pairs that were holding up weren’t for him. He was stuck pretty good and the game was good. He was trying to get unstuck for the night. I hope he wasn’t tilting. I gave him my email and Party/Empire nicks and hopefully we will keep in touch. I heard from at least 4 people of how they came on vacation x number of years ago and didn’t take their return flight home and have been there ever since. That was a lot of fun to hear about. The Mirage games were a lot of fun. A lot of action while very loose and pretty passive. I honestly think that my 4 3/6 games on line are tougher games. This isn’t because I won money in the game, it is because of the cold calling/6-7 way action, etc.

All told, 53 hours of play, up $1,379 (I won $1,374 in 40 hours of play last year). 1.78 BB/hr. Last year, I beat up the 8/16 pretty good, this year, it got its revenge. I really wanted to give the 15/30 a try but I just could not get up the courage…maybe next time.

The temporary area at Bellagio is a challenge. The service from the cocktail waitresses is terrible. Samir, the dealer got into a shouting match with a dude from New York who was angle shooting and being hard to get along with. Floor was called. It was pretty ugly.

After talking over PM prior to the trip, I never got a chance to meet Clarkmeister. I was hoping to meet him, Ed and Dynasty. I owed the guys a few beers for all of their help over the past few years, after looking feverishly, I never saw a university of Illinois hat. The NPA was nowhere to be found either. My 4th time out in the last 5 years and I still haven’t had a chance to meet the legends of 2+2. I suck.

[Clarkmeister]

Sorry I missed you. My fault as I thought we'd be able to meet up this weekend, but I took a last minute unplanned all weekend skiing trip with the girlfriend.

Glad you were winner for the trip. Next time play the 15-30, it's really no more difficult than the 8-16.

[Kevin]

No worries... I figured that something came up when I didn't hear back from you on PM this week. I gave you my mobile # and then left the phone in the car at the airport... my wife was thrilled.

I am sure that we will make another trip in the near future. My buddy wants to play Wynn's golf course so I might be able to make it out this summer. If not, the company loves to come to LV because they get a discounted room rate and cost shift to all of the roulette players in the group.

I will PM to make connection then.